Regenerative Leadership in Complexity: 33 Impact Founders, One Day, One Question
“What does it mean to lead regeneratively in a complex world?”
33 impact-driven entrepreneurs gathered to explore this question. Thank you to Johannes Milke, Amelie Salameh, and Wir bauen Zukunft eG
for inviting me to host, co-create, hold space, and think forward.
We wanted to experience what leadership truly requires today: Not control. Not pure efficiency. But co-creation with living systems — with what is.
What emerged was a space for systemic effectiveness, through awareness, relationship, and new ways of thinking.
Because when working with complexity, we cannot simply simplify it. But we can learn to shape it through connection rather than reaction.
One participant said: “I feel pressure around this topic - because it is so big.”
Many founders are in motion, but often in reactive mode between deadlines, decisions, and constant tensioin service of meaningful work.
What is missing is not another tool. What is missing is a conscious space where we can reorganise our thinking and being. Where we can learn to observe our thinking, so new possibilities become visible.
Awareness is the key to real agency and the shift from reactive functioning to (re)generative leadership.
This happens most powerfully in community in honest connection, in shared inquiry, in holding questions like:
💡 How do we stay oriented when no map exists?
💡 How do we reach beyond the impact bubble?
💡 How do I support others without losing myself?
💡 How do we hold tension so something new can emerge?
💡 How do we create spaces for true co-creation?
💡 Do we need ego — or the courage to release it?
The Conscious Leadership Compass (co-developed with Giles Hutchins) served as a navigational tool: an invitation to widen perspective, reflect on our role within the larger whole, and increase our capacity for effectiveness in complexity.
Regenerative & conscious leadership means: Not stabilising systems but enabling them to self-evolve.
Deep gratitude to all participants for your presence, honesty, and contributions. And to Marie-Pascale Gafinen for the visual recording.
What is next
→ Next modules in the Reallabor Zukunft with Wir bauen Zukunft
→ Wilderness Leadership Experience in South Africa (February)
→ Monthly Community of Practice or 1:1 partnership
If you sense that complexity cannot be managed but must be consciously shaped, feel free to reach out.
